Araphel wrote: Thu Jul 31, 2025 9:53 pm
I feel like what makes fighting game animations cool or impactful is that they look unrealistic. Characters don’t move like humans so naturally they have to move in ways that are more about feeling right to a player and for gameplay. Realism should take a back seat to game feel imo. Real people punch too slow for the speed of videogames it’s why mk looks so choppy.
One of my favorite looking games is marvel vs capcom 2 where all the characters feel more like they’re comic book posing than moving and it makes the game feel so fluid despite its age!
The thing is, it's not like you can't do realistic actions or use motion capture in fighting games
Tekken's Lidia is praised for the accuracy of her Karate, and that accuracy was achieved by having a famous Karate master do her motion capture. It's just that the animators made small tweaks to ensure the motions still looked good and readable as Fighting Game speeds. Unlike Mortal Kombat which does weightless flailing or outright fastforwards the motion capture to achieve the speeds needed for gameplay
EcoHound wrote: Thu Jul 31, 2025 8:06 pm
Also Ed Boon still defends the animations of modern Netherealm games, saying that they're perfectly realistic and people who say they look bad are "too used to cartoons"
So I would say it's not a purposeful "legacy art" choice
i don't think we can take ed boon seriously
terminator low kick.jpg
I misremembered the quote AAAAA
It just feels like there's such a disconnect that Boon refuses to do anything about.
He wants a super realistic look without any of the animation tricks to make sure things look good in motion while at fighting game speeds.
But Mortal Kombat is a game where brightly colored ninjas rip each other to pieces like everything's made of wet tissue paper.
And until they let go of that "always anatomically correct" doctrine, it's just not gonna look good.
EcoHound wrote: Thu Jul 31, 2025 8:06 pm
Also Ed Boon still defends the animations of modern Netherealm games, saying that they're perfectly realistic and people who say they look bad are "too used to cartoons"
So I would say it's not a purposeful "legacy art" choice
i don't think we can take ed boon seriously
terminator low kick.jpg
I misremembered the quote AAAAA
It just feels like there's such a disconnect that Boon refuses to do anything about.
He wants a super realistic look without any of the animation tricks to make sure things look good in motion while at fighting game speeds.
But Mortal Kombat is a game where brightly colored ninjas rip each other to pieces like everything's made of wet tissue paper.
And until they let go of that "always anatomically correct" doctrine, it's just not gonna look good.
while i dont personally enjoy playing mortal kombat am i crazy for thinking it looks satisfying in its own super fucked up way when i see people who are good at it? its uhhhhh... unlike anything else...
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2025 8:39 am
by Weasel
This is the fighting game thread, everyone here has faves that they know intellectually aren't perfect, but still love them regardless. For all my objections about MK's animations, it's still a joy to watch top rank players duke it out!
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2025 5:31 pm
by Weasel
Reminder that EVO has started! Search for How to watch Evo 2025 and find the Twitch stream times for your faves!
I'm always bummed about MK, because, look. Yes, the animations are bad. Yes, the gameplay is weird. Yes, people getting PTSD from all the violence sucks. It feels like every time you say something positive about MK, you always have to preface whatever you say with this stuff so that nobody gets the wrong idea. That said
I really, really wish that they gave the MK franchise to literally anybody who cared just a little more, because I feel like the franchise has a lot of untapped potential. I think -- and I'm being serious here -- that the recent MK games have had the most stylish, distinctive characters of about any modern fighting game I can think of, except maybe Guilty Gear. You've got the way they interact with each other, you've got the way they develop game by game -- at least before they get rebooted, which really sucks, you've got the non-fighting animations they put so much work into, which really do try to sell you the character and what they do.
And while I'm not... the biggest fan of how they control, what I really have to make a hill on for MK is that it tries to really innovate. I mean, even the best fighting games of the last generation are kind of just iterating and streamlining what came before. MK has always these wild ideas, it really feels like it's trying to push the envelope more than any other fighting game franchise.
You've got stuff like Krushing Blows, where doing certain things during a match will give a one-time boost to some of your moves. You've got MK11 literally letting you set up a custom loadout of moves, or instead of a super meter, you've got different meters you can spend for defensive and offensive mechanics, which I thought was really neat. Not to mention some really neat ideas for character moves. Just off the top of my head, you've got Baraka, who literally has a war banner he put down and pick up for specific, more powerful specials -- I might be wrong, but I can't think of any other recent fighting game character who does that.
And sadly, it doesn't mean a whole lot in the end, because these games are just so offputting to the sorts of people who might put some serious time in them. And I really don't think they have to be! I think there's a really good underlying foundation there that's constantly being buried by the old guard keeping what's fundamentally wrong about these games from getting the changes they need. I'd really love to see this series go to somebody who could find a way to make it a little easier to swallow without making it lose what I think is cool about it, but that doesn't really seem likely.
The only game I can really think of that's ever really tried to apply that sense of innovation and style to a more... palatable fighting game is Killer Instinct. I miss Killer Instinct so much dude it hurts.
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2025 8:57 pm
by Enbyeon
The Capcom Fighting Game Collection 2 is adding the PSP characters to Alpha 3 Upper, which is pretty wild.
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:47 pm
by EcoHound
The itch to learn fighting games has returned
DAMN YOU SOCIAL ANXIETY WHY WON’T YOU LET ME PLAY ONLINE WITH RANDOS?!
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2025 9:57 am
by Weasel
EcoHound wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:47 pm
The itch to learn fighting games has returned
DAMN YOU SOCIAL ANXIETY WHY WON’T YOU LET ME PLAY ONLINE WITH RANDOS?!
I've been having a really good time on the Discord server scratchingway was talking about! Real nice folk who were happy to whoop my butt and didn't complain about any of the cheap gimmicks I fall back on when I panic.
[edit] Oh man, the Armor King gameplay trailer looks siiiiiick, gimme gimme gimme! I wanna be the bad jaguar!
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:28 am
by Enbyeon
Lucy gameplay got showed off and it looks sick.
Also I guess we're getting Rev 2 treatment of Strive and it comes with a nice helping of Robo-Ky and Jam.
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:30 am
by Ivy-IV
Big Hazama inspo for me this top 8, J-Anson makes his movement look so effortless. Makes me excited to play him more!
The VOD doesn't show it but Fenrich held the whole bracket up for like 1 1/2 hours because he was in another top 8 so now it's vendetta forever
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 3:55 am
by EcoHound
Been trying to learn Strive again, playing with a friend who's just as clueless as me is FUN
This has also been getting me to think about a game concept I've had in my mind for a while
I want to see if the crazy mobility systems of Anime Fighters can work as a control scheme for a Metroidvania/platformer
Using a fighting game control scheme
More beat em up conbat during general gameplay
Then for boss battles, proper 2D fighting gameplay
And using combo systems against enemies to gain height for advanced platforming
So you can sequence break with creative combos and enemy placement
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 9:17 am
by Weasel
While not metroidvanias, 2d-platformers-but-fighting-games have been tried before!
To, err, not great results.
Which isn't to say it can't work, I've just not seen it done well (for example, while the Smash series are specifically platformer fighters, I still find their solo campaigns excruciating to play specifically because of how bad the controls feel for a platformer).
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 10:57 am
by Lolo De Puzlo
I don't have a lot of experience with it but You are Peter Shorts is very much a platform fighter platformer
It also just has a real vibe to it. Controls are...specific. But it's just so charming.
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 11:07 am
by Moot
megabyte punch is a similar sort of thing, a smash-like platformer where you get upgrades for your guy by smashing enemies into walls until their components come off which you can then bolt onto yourself changing your moveset in the process
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 12:34 pm
by Weasel
I stand corrected, those both look neat!
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 1:59 pm
by Enbyeon
If you want more non-fighting games that play like fighting games, Slave Zero X is fantastic:
It's basically a Guilty Gear character action game.
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2025 5:06 pm
by Sharktic
Hi there! I've been competing in FGC Events for the last couple years, I usually go to Frosty Faustings, Combo Breaker and Midwest Mixfest. My main games are Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising & Tekken 8 but I love to dabble in pretty much everything. (I also got 4th place and got to be on stream at Frosty this year for Kamen Rider Super Climax Heroes)
Check out my cool leverless!
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2025 1:45 am
by LilyLopears
Ivy-IV wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:40 am
Since we've had multiple calls for a scheduled game night: What times are people free? Weekends would probably be best for this but I'm free most evenings from about 8pm GMT/5pm EST. Let's work something out!
My gaming/streaming laptop should be fixed soon, then I should be available pretty often.
Ivy-IV wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:40 am
Since we've had multiple calls for a scheduled game night: What times are people free? Weekends would probably be best for this but I'm free most evenings from about 8pm GMT/5pm EST. Let's work something out!
My gaming/streaming laptop should be fixed soon, then I should be available pretty often.
If theres still interest in this im always available after 8pm EST tho i understand if thats too late for west coast people
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2025 12:45 pm
by ShunDabun
Oh hell yeah this place is still active AND there's a topic for fighting games. Anyone playing SF6?
Hi there! I've been competing in FGC Events for the last couple years, I usually go to Frosty Faustings, Combo Breaker and Midwest Mixfest. My main games are Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising & Tekken 8 but I love to dabble in pretty much everything. (I also got 4th place and got to be on stream at Frosty this year for Kamen Rider Super Climax Heroes)
Ivy-IV wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:40 am
Since we've had multiple calls for a scheduled game night: What times are people free? Weekends would probably be best for this but I'm free most evenings from about 8pm GMT/5pm EST. Let's work something out!
My gaming/streaming laptop should be fixed soon, then I should be available pretty often.
If theres still interest in this im always available after 8pm EST tho i understand if thats too late for west coast people
If it helps, I'm in Mountain Time actually
Re: Fighting Games
Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2025 10:01 pm
by LeinaWahMom
I play SF6 on and off. Might be fun to play against other people, but I'm terrible at fighting games. XD
